I thought this might be a nice topic to discuss the excitement / frustrations / joy / learning curve when you attempted you first ever pony custom!

I am sure that those new to customising would appreciate reading about your experiences and give them encouragement to go for it 

For me - it was a restoration of a Gusty G1 - the hair had been cut etc so she needed a re-root. As I already had a little army of Gustys I felt that it would be OK to choose a slight variation to her usual colouring - I chose a shade of green that matched the eye iris colour and added a stripe of pinky red (instead of orange red) to give more of a watermelon effect - this became my "Watermelon Gusty" 

I had done re-hairs before on Pippa (Dawn) and Sindy/Barbie Dolls, but I went through similar emotions!

Emotions I went through:

1) deciding Gusty looked bad needed some love! Agonising over the right colours to choose...
2) being brave enough to take the plunge - CUTTING AWAY THE HAIR - yikes! 
3) thinking OMG what have I done I have killed my pony!!!!
4) spending a LOOONG time slowly attempting to remove the head & then using a craft knife to cut the stuck bits
5) looking at the decapitated head & thinking again: OMG I have really killed my pony!!!!
6) boiling the pony body parts on the stove in Oxi solution like some kind of Grimms Fairytale witch
7) thinking how odd this all looks!!
8) The joy felt at observing a much cleaner-looking pony
9) rolling my eyes at the amount of hair plugs I needed to prepare... I do find this bit tedious
10) rooting my first 5 plugs, feeling pleased with the progress
11) looking at the millions of empty plug holes still waiting to be filled and nearly losing hope
12) finding my mojo & completing the rooting
13) excitement at finally getting a chance to style the hair
14) eagerness to share photos to the pony community
15) thinking - yes, that was fun but hard work, I won't be doing this again in a hurry...
16) five minutes later finding another bait pony & wanting to do it again 

How did you feel the first time you restored or customised a pony?

My kid has Princess Petals & Sunny Starscout -

interesting observation - Sunny's accessories (bag and roller skates) are a different colour to the picture on the box & enclosed poster! We have turquoise skates & a pink messenger satchel - the box indicates lilac skates & turquoise bag 

Does anyone else have alternative coloured accessories or is it just a UK thing?

Would love to know what colour accessories your ponies have.

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Also - we had fun with the crystal containers! We joined Petals' & Sunny's crystal halves together, there are some holes at the sides that are just the right size to enable me to poke through some fairy lights! (the thin wire types used in pretty glass bottles for wedding decorations) - I think the crystal looks great all lit up!

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Imgur has changed, I hope you can see the piccies? 

What musical instruments do you play?
Do you enjoy it/them or are they a chore?


During lock-down at the end of 2020 I dug out my old electric guitar & decided once and for all to learn to play it properly (i.e. get down with the theory, scales, modes, triads, all that crazy shizzle).

Fast-forward to mid 2021 and I have been diligently practising daily, using Y-T videos as a teaching aid. Being serious about my passion, I got a new Squier stratocaster in January, then a new, proper Fender telecaster in May; they are such beautiful instruments!!

I am still rubbish! Hahaha!  But enjoying the ride immensely. I am a secret rock-star diva, when the door is closed and I jam (quietly) in my room...  I should be reasonable in a year or so...

I played piano & violin when I was little but never delved so deeply into chord theory as I do now for guitar... I find it really interesting and love to see repeat patterns etc. learning about the circle-of-fifths, how composers construct songs, fascinating!

It has also kept me sane when I could not go out (due to lock downs). Plus there is that feeling of satisfaction when you learn a simple song and play it to yourself - ah such a great feeling!!

Over to you!!

I was supposed to pop to the supermarket, I did a detour to a neighbouring town and - what? - one of their charity stores was open! So of course I had to investigate... 

Wearing my mask, I gingerly went inside, only a couple of other customers within... my first charity shop visit since March! I did a quick scan, got slightly tempted by some Sylvanian Families furniture but decided not to get it and leave... as I did so, I passed a whole heap of recent donations and sat RIGHT ON TOP was A G1 PONY!

Behold - below a freshly scrubbed and disinfected Happyglow!

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Happyglow was also wearing Tex's hat, so I thought perhaps he was amongst the donations too, the shop lady did a rummage for me but no other ponies were there - these were as yet un-quarantined donations. I REALLY wanted Happyglow and agreed that I was OK with handling her. I always travel with hand-gel so I felt OK in that respect.

£1 - what a bargain!

Her body is near-mint (it was so clean & smooth that at first I was unsure if she was a fakie) her hair is silky at the roots but beginning to get dry at the ends - I need to do a decent spa treatment later on.

I haven't yet tested the glow-in-the-dark functionality yet, perhaps something fun to try tonight with my kid! 

What a fab bit of pony luck, eh? I felt really lucky and it gave me happy feelings, even when later I was stood in an EPIC queue at the supermarket... 

Didn't see another topic to I made this one, mods please move it if there is one already!

So, Frozen II was released today in the UK and I have just been to see it with my kid 

Some highlights:

Stunning CGI + artwork
A deeper (bit darker) storyline
A very tongue-in-cheek cheesy power ballad with Kristoff 
Oh - there is a mini Olaf sketch at the end of the loooong credits, so wait in the theatre!
Gorgeous costumes

Mildly Spoilery:


What were / are your thoughts?

I started horse-riding at age 6, so have always loved ponies in real-life. Due to moving schools (and the soaring expense) I stopped riding regularly, but would hop on my friend's horse every so often and have a bit of fun (although it would be based in their field and never off-track, as I used to do).  When she sold her, I stopped riding completely; maybe one day I will get the chance to ride again!

I have been spending a fair amount of time being fascinated by "horse whispering" and realising that, as a confident young kid all those years ago, I actually knew NOTHING about horses except that you pulled the reins a certain way and gave a squeeze of the thighs to get the horse to do something! 

Oh, to know then of what I am aware of now, about the techniques using your body language, your eyes etc to communicate both respect and authority and to get the horse to CHOOSE to do the things you actually want them to do. Nope, I have never "horse whispered" nor used a lunge rope or round-pens to break a horse in etc. (that was a job for other folks at the stables, we just tacked-up and rode) but I have been addicted to you-tube recently, watching this Australian guy, Clinton Anderson, now based in Texas, who does something called "Down Under Horsemanship". It's amazing how he does it and it makes so much sense!

I think back to the time when we were wary of certain horses who were considered "aggressive" and recall one of the senior stable folks flying at one tethered, "naughty" horse with her riding crop, making the horse rear-up and screech - as a kid it was horrible to see (I never liked that woman after that) - then looking the horsemanship videos I can see how, with a little patience, just doing a few exercises with that horse could have helped channel away the "aggression".

Well, one day I might hop back in the saddle again, I still smile when I can smell horses, even their poo never bothered me! 

So, do you like real-life ponies too?

I had some envelopes with Christmas / Birthday money that I had not yet banked, it added up to a significant amount. Hmmm, should I go crazy and justify buying a Munchy and a Mimic? 

After observing the recent threads regarding "Rare ponies on eBay?"  http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,394754.0.html
and "Settle for a flawed pony or save for a mint one?" http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,395286.0.html
I still (personally) cannot justify spending so much on a single pony and am happy with less expensive flawed ones or customised baits. Of course, fair-play to those who do buy the expensive or rare or minty ones or MOCs - you are collectors with a passion for ponies and finding your grails gives you much joy and satisfaction    plus you are lucky to have those extra funds! 

Anyway, this post is about the other things that we love, ponies aside, that we are prepared to spend our piggy-bank funds on. What are your other passions? What do you like buying?

I have always had a love of vintage - be it chandeliers, dramatic clothing, sparkly jewellery, candlestick telephones, swirly-framed mirrors etc. One of my dreams was to own a genuine, old chaise-longue, oh, to recline on one whilst sipping a cocktail in my fantasy, silk-wallpapered boudoir!

Anyway, last week I was browsing ebay (dangerous!) and found a few, they set my mind spinning at how lovely they were. I then found one which was my ultimate dream shape (although I would have preferred it in a different colour). It was so far away and the seller said "collection only". I saved it in my Watch-List to keep an eye on it and look longingly at the photo and sigh sadly some more.    A couple of days later, after thinking about hiring a van and working out the logistics of getting there, I thought it was worth just sending a message to the seller to ask if they would consider a courier to deliver to me etc. They replied saying that they would deliver in-person for a certain fee!!  My heart jumped. Could I own this? For real? I saw that more ebayers had started watching it. No, no, no, it SHALL BE MINE!!!

Anyway, this beauty was bought with a B.I.N. and delivered early this morning! I am absolutely thrilled with it. It came from a retired lady who used to be a hairdresser and was down-sizing her possessions, she has owned it from the 1950s but the ceramic castors indicate that it may be Edwardian or late Victorian! No odours, velvet fabric in great condition, original horse hair stuffing (so I sort of bought a bit of "real" vintage pony, LOL)    she had other vintage hairdresser things too, these have ended up being bought by a local film studio for genuine props. 

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  so snug & curvy

I love it soooooo much! Maybe being a red-wine velvet colour would have been my ideal, but I am getting used the the classic green already! Nope, I don't think I'll re-upholster this  It brings me much joy!

So, not bad considering I could have spent the same amount of money on rare ponies instead? 

So, what special, non-pony things have you bought?

I recently bought a bundle of G1s and found this very poorly Majesty.
I never throw out poorly ponies and see Majesty's condition as a super challenge! 

So far I have given her an oxy bath, magic-eraser once-over and gently removed the last of her glitter symbols with acetate, then bathed her again.

She is covered in LOTS of age spots on her face and legs - and there is a significant "bloom" around her neck. It's interesting to see the age-spots have taken a rusty impression of where her symbols once were!

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What to do?

Perhaps I could re-paint her body? I have never done this so am unsure what paints to use, an acrylic spray would look neat-and-tidy I suppose.
If I repaint, I could fashion an alt pose Moondancer (in pastel hair) or why not try Mimic? Hmm.

please tell me your suggestions on what to do and HOW to go about it!
Thanks!